38 DECEMDEI\ 1 , 1958 THE, CASE, IN FA VOIl OF SIGN LANGUAGE, eon will revolutionize diplo- macy, bring the Cold War to a close, and create a spirit of un- derstandIng between all nations, large and small, that may lead to world disarmament and permanent peace, I feel that the least I can do is quote in full what the Times (with the as- sistance of the AssocIated Press) had to say: O N November 20th, according to the Times of November 21st, President Eisenhower "re- turned to his favorite vacation spot"- the Augusta National Golf Club, in Augusta, Georgia. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding this trip were like those surrounding his pre- vious trips to Augusta. The President "arrived at Bush Field, just outside Augusta, in midafternoon aboard his special plane, the Columbine III;" he was met at the airfield "by Co!. Paul Snowden, commanding officer of Fort Gordon," and by "Jerome Frank- lin, an executive of the American Cyanamid Corporation, and Albert Peabody, treasurer of the Augusta National Bank;" and he "was on the first tee of the par-72 Masters tour- nament course as quickly as he could change [from a dark blue suit and gray fedora] In to golfing clothes." The significant thing about this trip on No- vember 20th was that, as the Times explained, "he was accompanied on the flight from Washington only by George Champion, president of the Chase Manhattan Bank of New York," and the significant thing about that sentence is not the name of his com- panion or the line of work in which his companion is engaged; it is the fact that he was accompanied "only" by that companion. The reason he was accompanied "only" by Mr. Champion was given farther along in the T'lmes story from Augusta: "Mrs. Eisenhower did not accompany the President on the flight from Washington. She was host- ess at a White House luncheon for women delegates to the U nited Nations. She will arrive here by train tomorrow morning." The Times told ahout the luncheon itself in a separate story, from Washington, tacked on the end of the one from Augusta. It was brief and it appeared on page 20, whereas the one about Mr. Eisenhower's trip was a column long and started on page 1. Because there seems to me to be a pos- sibility that what happened at the lunch- WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (AP)-Mrs. Eisenhower overcame a language barrier by talking with her hands today while en- tertaining forty-one United Nations wom- an delegates and alternates. United Nations precedence placed the Soviet Union's representative, Mme. N. A. l\Iluravyeva, on the First Lady's left at the luncheon table. The Soviet Minister of Social Security speaks little English. Mme. :vI uravyeva said later that she and Mrs. Eisenhower had understood each other very well. If you give the matter some serI- ous thought, it IS not surprising that Mrs. Eisenhower was the one to hit upon a means of communication be- tween the RussIans and us that may, if generally adopted, get us somewhere. It is just like a wom- an to do such a thing. Although the practice of talking has increased in volume in interna- tional circles during re- cen t years, it has dete- riorated as an effective means of communication in those circles. Even some talks that were sup- posed to lead to further talks failed to accomplish anything The use of written language in dip- lomatic notes and in direct correspondence between the heads of this government and the Soviet government also petered out; in the end, this side simply sent the other side's letter back to it, saying it didn't deserve a reply. Now, there are sev- eral well-known sign languages in existence, but it is not known which one Mrs. EIsenhower used at the White House luncheon. In any case, to avoid starting out on the wrong foot, or hand, these existing sign languages should be tak- en into silent consIdera- tion before It is decided which sign language will ,. I I. I. . , , . . ....' : ./; -. . .".... "1088 jumped the gun. They're already sayzng 'Merry Christmas.'!"